3.29.2009

Chocolate And....


marshmallows and popcorn! At least that’s what I used. I got the idea from my Grandma. She told me about her very first project in home economics class. She made chocolate covered peanuts, which I love and had every intention of making, but didn’t pick up peanuts when I went shopping. You use anything you want here, pretzels, cookies, Oreos, graham crackers… anything you like! But here’s what I have this week:

1 cup Chocolate Chips
Marshmallows
Popcorn

1. First step is to put the chocolate chips in a bowl and microwave them. Mine went in for 58 seconds, stirred it and put it back in for another 87 seconds. Anyone spot the pattern?


2. Get ready a pan or plate, and cover it with wax paper or aluminum foil.


3. Get ready the marshmallows and popcorn. What I did here was cut the marshmallows in half, but you can leave them whole if you prefer.


4. Cover them in chocolate and put them on the foil.


5. Take some small bowls and line them with foil as well. Put in some popcorn.


6. Drizzle this popcorn with chocolate.


7. Move these into a refrigerator and let the chocolate harden. I took mine out after 30 minutes, but I was a little impatient.

Candies! Great movie night snacks here as well! And the marshmallows do look a little bit like hockey pucks, so on your next hockey night you can make these too.

Enjoy!

3.24.2009

Pizza Muffins!



Here’s one my sisters and I used to make with my mom. I love it! Easy to do, and tasty! Pizza muffins, so you can use whatever you like on pizza. I used pepperoni. Here’s what you need:


English Muffins

Cheese (mozzarella, or provolone)

Pizza Sauce

Pepperoni


1. Cut the English muffins in half.


2. Add the pizza sauce.


3. Break up the cheese if you need to, or just use shredded cheese.


4. Add the pepperoni, or whatever topping you like.


Now you can either cook it for 30-45 seconds in the microwave, or cook it a little longer in the oven.


5. Heat the oven to 450 degrees.


6. Cook the muffins for 3-5 minutes, until the cheese melts.



There you go! Pizza Muffins! Enjoy!



As Dana commented, this would be a great snack for a movie night!

Or maybe a hockey night.....




3.15.2009

Popcorn Chicken


Popcorn Chicken

This week I’m going to show you how to make popcorn chicken. Kind of a smaller version of the chicken tenders my Grandma makes for my sisters and me when we go over to her house. We love them. Because we’re working with raw chicken here, make sure you wash your hands before handling anything else, and thoroughly wash any surface or utensil the chicken touches. Here’s what you’ll need:

1 small/medium boneless skinless chicken breast

1 egg

Bread crumbs

Flour

½ cup milk


OPTIONAL

Seasoned salt

Cheese (Parmesan if you want to add it to the bread crumbs)


1. Start out with the boneless skinless chicken breast, almost fully thawed but not quite. Cut it into smaller chunks. Believe me it’s much easier if it’s still a little frozen. And less gross.


OPTIONAL:

Put the chicken in a plastic bag and sprinkle some seasoned salt in. Rub it in a bit and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours.

2. Next, put some flour into a plastic storage bag.


3. Put the chicken in the bag and shake it up to coat. Make sure it’s all coated.


4. Mix the egg and milk in a bowl.


5. Now is a good idea to get another bag ready with bread crumbs.


6. Take each piece of chicken from the flour and put it in the egg/milk mixture. Get it covered. This helps the bread crumbs to stick.


7. After putting the chicken in the egg mixture, put it in the bag with bread crumbs.


8. Shake, shake, a-shake it! Coat all the chicken with the bread crumbs (and cheese if you want).


9. Next coat the bottom of a pan with butter, or no-stick spray.


10. Take the chicken out of the bags and put it in a single layer in the pan.


11. Heat the oven to about 450 degrees. It’s a good idea to let the chicken sit while the oven is preheating. It helps the bread crumbs to set.


12. Cook the chicken for about 20 minutes, and flip them over.

OPTIONAL:

It’s really good if you sprinkle some cheese on top here. Mozzarella or provolone is great if you’re using Italian seasoned bread crumbs. My Grandma does it for us when we’re there and it’s fantastic. I didn’t have any…..


13. Put them back in for 15-20 more minutes.


14. It’s done when it turns a little brown, and there is no pink in thickest part of the biggest piece of chicken. But if you cut them up, it shouldn’t take too long.

That’s it! Enjoy!